Ocean tried to get Keith to sign an agreement that said that Keith had no part in writing any of the songs. Keith, however, refused and in 2016 tried to file songwriting credits with ASCAP. Keith claims to have written 11 of the songs that appear on Blonde including “Pink + White,” and “Ivy.”

According to Rolling Stone, the suit claims that Ocean, “has never written any compositions with [Keith]…Moreover, all of the Compositions and the ASCAP Compositions were written well before Defendants, or any of them, rendered any services whatsoever in connection with any of the masters. Defendants did not contribute any lyrics, melodies, or music that would give rise to any claim of authorship.”

Keith and Ocean have worked together before on Channel Orange, and the agreement they entered into for Blonde was for production credits only, which was to be paid at a flat rate. The suit also claims that Ocean asked for a detailed account of Keith’s writing contributions as proof, but Keith nor his lawyers ever responded.

Ocean is requesting that the judge rule that Keith doesn’t own any songs and must stop claiming that he had a part in the writing.

About Jeff Min

Jeff Min is a Chicago-based writer at SONGLYRICS. His work has appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, Hi-Fructose, Wax Poetics, SLAM, and HOOP.